Madema SpA, one of Italy's premier rental companies, was contracted to provide a sophisticated EAW sound reinforcement system supplied by EAW's Italian distributor, Audium srl, in addition to lighting and rigging. The entire system was deliberately kept to smaller proportions compared to previous years, but, as sound engineer Guiseppe 'Beppe' Andolina pointed out, the audio quality was not compromised. "The reason we decided on the new KF730 Small Line Array from EAW this year was precisely because it is so well-suited to this kind of work. It has that special quality of being unobtrusive, physically as well as acoustically, but nevertheless has great presence; in other words it does a great job, but it doesn't scream at you like some systems can, all of which makes it an ideal choice for this sort of event."
The main system comprised two hangs of 12 EAW KF730 small line array cabinets each on either side of the stage, supplemented by four EAW SB 850 bass bins per side, plus a front-fill system for the first few rows comprising ten EAW JF50 loudspeakers which were ground-stacked along with the subs underneath the main hangs. The whole system was powered by Crown amplification and controlled by two Lake Contour system processors. For monitoring, in the interests of simplicity, Madema's engineers opted to re-distribute the FOH signal rather than implement a classic direct on-stage monitor system given that there were 16 omnidirectional mics for the choir and a further two unidirectional systems for the singers to contend with. To supplement the main PA in this regard, Madema set up a stage side-fill system using twelve EAW JF100 2-way, compact, trapezoidal systems and six more JF50s with ten Klark Teknik DN360 graphic EQs. The entire system was run from a pair of 52-channel Yamaha PM5000 consoles in a cascade configuration.
Andolina was delighted with the results. "The KF730 system has already proved its worth in a number of situations, including the recent concerts at the Teatro Massimo of Palermo, and it's been a particularly good choice for the opera concerts here at Caracalla in Rome. The powerful, high quality audio delivered by this system is thanks to its modern design, innovative technological choices, the highest possible quality components and the flexibility offered by its reduced cabinet dimensions. Furthermore, these new 2-way devices have an internal crossover and an impedance of just 16ohms, so you only need a relatively small number of power amps to drive the entire line array. The overall sound is impressive, and very warm - as is often the case with American systems - over a wide frequency response. Personally, I think it's a great-sounding system and I'm looking forward to working with it again."
(Sarah Rushton-Read)
